Pasta in Compost bin -should I remove?

[malfoy]

My MIL has been throwing random stuff in the compost bin including food stuff which is not compostable.

What will happen to stuff like pasta if I leave it?

I really do not fancy removing it but do not want to end up with a horrible smell or worse rats.

[BreeVanderCampLGJ]

Your whole compost bin will be worth nowt, no cooked food in a compost bin. Or so my Dad says. Sits back and waits to be corrected.

[malfoy]

that was quick! thanks.

I am not fussed about the compost itself (assuming the food eventually rots away) but more the smell.

[Furball]

I'd leave it a few bits of pasta in the scheme of a whole compost bin won't make much difference.

Not sure why they say cooked food attracts rats, surely rats prefer raw veg and stuff?

[policywonk]

I had assumed that they say 'no cooked food' because even non-meat food scraps might have bits of meat/gravy/meaty sauces clinging to them. So by my logic, the pasta might be OK so long as you can guaruntee that there's no meat or fish stuff attached to it. I could be quite wrong about this though.

[SoupDragon]

Cooked food will not wreck your entire batch of compost.
Even though mine has no cooked food etc in it it is still a target for Unidentified Rodents.

[Madlentileater]

pasta will rot fine, so would any cooked food, tis the rats that are the issue, but as a one off should be OK. I reckon rats prefer cooked food because it's 'easier' (like we prefer our food cooked too). We are quite strict about this rule as have had plenty of unpleasant ratty experiences, however none compost related. Every so often I tip a bucket of water into the bin to discourage anything from taking up residence. You know what they say, you're never more than 10 feet from a rat. Sweet dreams.

[girlywhirly]

Rats will eat anything and everything. There are some types of wormery that will take food waste, but these are a special construction not a compost bin or heap. I am lucky in that the local council are now taking raw and cooked food waste in our garden waste wheelie bin. It's hard to get DH to remember though. I keep having to fish stuff out of the kitchen bin that he's put there!

The council here have a special 'compost farm' where all the waste gets heated to incredibly high temperatures, so sterilizing it all. No domestic composting could ever reach that temp. They sell the finished compost in garden centres!

[malfoy]

Thanks all. I will leave it & see what happens.

Am now paranoid that the compost bin smells even worse than usual.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Non-meat food waste really isn't a problem in a compost bin (with a rat-proof lid). Meaty stuff goes into the dog, bread/fat onto bird table, small amounts of baked beans/pasta/rice into compost bin. If you are regularly binning large quantities of pasta (or anything else)then you're cooking too much which is unethical

[malfoy]

good point GTN. Our way of living/ cooking is not very ethical at all. A lot goes into the compost bin & rubbish.

[OrmIrian]

I put it in sometimes. I always thought it was just meat and dairy that you should avoid.

Rats are just as happy with apple cores and potatoe peel anyway. Ours do love cooked pasta though - almost as much as bananas (pets not wild).

[SoupDragon]

You don't just need a rat-proof lid, you need a rat-proof bottom as well.

[Madlentileater]

chickens are the answer to your unwanted pasta.

[pointydog]

what's the answer ot the chickens? Foxes?

[Madlentileater]

wash your mouth out!